South Korea

Korea has roughly 60 foreign schools, 15 of them in Seoul, per KOTRA’s investment guide; a dated Ministry of Foreign Affairs count (April 2016) put the total at 44 — 22 in Seoul, 9 in surrounding Gyeonggi-do, 5 in Busan, 2 in Daegu — which gives a sense of both the growth and the capital-region gravity. ↗

There are two legal categories, and the difference matters. Most international schools are “foreign schools” (외국인학교), licensed by metropolitan offices of education and restricted by eligibility rules. A small second group — seven nationwide — are Ministry of Education-approved “foreign educational institutions”, a category that includes Chadwick International in Songdo and Daegu International School, alongside university campuses like SUNY Korea. Jeju’s four international schools form a third track, approved by the Jeju provincial superintendent. ↗

The market is top-heavy. The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education’s September 2024 table shows a premium tier charging USD 27,000-50,000 a year — Seoul Foreign School at USD 40,990-49,610 with 1,958 students, Dulwich at USD 38,690-40,370 — and a long value tail anchored by the Lycée Français de Séoul at USD 8,834-13,510 and Deutsche Schule Seoul International at USD 18,200-25,200. ↗

Demand is structural, not just expatriate. Korean families treat international schools as an alternative to early study abroad — which is exactly why the eligibility rules exist, and why Jeju was built. The 2018 relocation of US Forces Korea from Yongsan to Camp Humphreys, which closed the DoDEA high school in 2019, redrew the expat map without shrinking the market. ↗

Foreign-passport children have a clear run. The standard conditions at mainland foreign schools: the student holds a foreign passport (or at least one parent is foreign), and the student passes a basic examination and interview. For expat families this is straightforward; the rules bite elsewhere. ↗

Korean nationals face the three-year rule. A Korean-citizen child may attend a mainland foreign school only after living overseas for three or more years, and Korean-national capacity is capped at 30 per cent of seats (plus 20 per cent by individual school regulation). This is the single most misunderstood rule in the market — families returning from a short posting can find their children ineligible. ↗

Jeju Global Education City is the deliberate loophole. The four schools in the Jeju GEC — North London Collegiate School Jeju, Branksome Hall Asia, St. Johnsbury Academy Jeju and KIS Jeju — may enrol Korean nationals up to 100 per cent of seats with no overseas-residence requirement, and their qualifications are recognised domestically. Fees run roughly KRW 22-50M a year depending on school and boarding (aggregator figure; confirm per school). The result: several Jeju schools are overwhelmingly Korean — early reporting put NLCS Jeju at 98 per cent Korean enrolment. ↗

Korea’s premium tier prices in won, often split into KRW and USD portions — a hedge against currency movement that dates to the sector’s missionary-school roots. A 2026-27 snapshot from published schedules and aggregator records (graded medium confidence in our dossiers; confirm against each school’s own schedule):

• Seoul Foreign School (founded 1912, Korea’s oldest): ₩40,165,985-₩56,216,011, plus a ₩400,000 application fee, ₩650,000 registration and a ₩5,500,000 entrance fee. ↗
• Chadwick International (Songdo, Incheon): ₩56,383,766-₩65,832,846 — the top of the national market, technically outside Seoul in the Incheon Free Economic Zone. ↗
• Dulwich College Seoul: ₩42,740,000-₩47,940,000; KIS Pangyo: ₩34,150,167-₩46,789,800; YISS: ₩32,549,312-₩38,004,842 plus a ₩4,500,000 capital development fee; Dwight School Seoul (the city’s first IB continuum): ₩28,118,000-₩36,369,000. ↗
• Jeju GEC schools: roughly KRW 22M-50M a year depending on school and boarding (low-confidence aggregator band). ↗

The budget tier is real but thin. Compilations put Seoul’s budget Christian and community schools — Global Christian Foreign School, Korea Kent Foreign School and peers — at KRW 8M-16M a year, and the Lycée Français de Séoul is the cheapest established foreign school at USD 8,834-13,510 in the official SMOE table. Outside the capital, Daegu International School prices well under the Seoul premium tier. ↗

Korea’s premium tier is built on the American college-prep model — AP courses at SFS, YISS, KIS and SIS — with the IB Diploma as the common second track. Dwight was the first school authorised for the full IB continuum in Seoul; Chadwick and the Jeju schools lean IB as well. British provision is narrower than families arriving from Singapore or Hong Kong expect: Dulwich College Seoul and SFS’s British school on the mainland, NLCS Jeju in the GEC. Our IB vs British vs American guide walks through the portability trade-offs.

National-curriculum schools serve their own communities: the Lycée Français de Séoul (AEFE), Deutsche Schule Seoul International (Abitur), the Japanese School in Seoul and a network of overseas Chinese schools in Seoul, Busan and Daegu. These are often the best-value seats in the market — and the least covered by English-language guides.

Busan is the clear second city. The metropolitan government lists five foreign schools as of June 2026: the International School of Busan (349 students, the full IB continuum, founded 1983), Busan Foreign School (255 students, American curriculum), the Busan Japanese School and two overseas Chinese schools. Fees and admissions pressure are both materially gentler than Seoul’s. ↗

Daegu offers a government-approved American school. Daegu International School is one of the seven MoE-approved foreign educational institutions (associated with Lee Academy in Maine), K-12, with budget compilations putting fees around KRW 15-22M — roughly half the Seoul premium tier. Gyeonggi-do’s ring around Seoul hosts its own cluster (SIS in Seongnam, KIS Pangyo), and Pyeongtaek’s international Christian schools have grown with the Camp Humphreys community since the 2018 USFK move. ↗

Every figure above traces to our research dossier. Primary sources: the Seoul Metropolitan Government, Busan Metropolitan City, KOTRA/InvestKOREA guides and the Jeju GEC regulatory comparison. School-level 2026-27 fees come from the International Schools Database and are graded medium confidence — confirm against each school’s own schedule before budgeting.

Fees and policies expire. This page was researched on 2 September 2026 and is re-verified each academic year — see our research standard, browse the school directory as profiles open, and use corrections if you spot something stale.